Joint-providership walk-through
Who owns the file, what each side may draft, and a planning memo that does not invent the accreditation statement or treat the arrangement as a legal partnership.
What you’re making
A one-page split you can put in both folders: who is the accredited provider, what each side drafts, what only the accredited provider signs, and a planning email that does not invent credit language.
ACCME defines joint providership as an accredited organization presenting a CME activity with a nonaccredited organization. It is not a legal partnership. ACCME does not use the words partnership or partners in the definition. The accredited provider takes responsibility for the activity and must be able to show compliance from either side’s files.
Who owns what
| Job | Accredited provider | Nonaccredited joint provider |
|---|---|---|
| Accreditation requirements and the activity file | Owns them. Puts own accreditation at risk. | May hold copies. Cannot take the file off the desk. |
| Content validity | Final say. ACCME has noted this is harder in joint providership. | Drafts, subject to last-minute revocation. |
| Disclosures, mitigation, learner disclosure | Process and documentation. | Collects and forwards. Does not decide relevance alone. |
| Operations, refunds, complaint response | Responsible if the other side cannot or will not pay. | May run registration. Does not leave the accredited provider uncovered. |
| Promotional pages and gift-card offers | Reviews listings. Gift cards or personal remuneration tied to buying accredited CME are prohibited. | Contractually barred from unapproved promotion. |
| Credit and accreditation statements | Supplies the official sentences. | Does not mint a statement for the flyer. |
| ACCME inquiry about the activity | Responds. | Supplies documents when asked. |
ACCME has no policy that requires or forbids a joint-providership fee. That is a local business decision, not a compliance shortcut.
Build the agreement so the accredited provider can revoke accreditation immediately, at the last minute, without penalty, for any compliance issue including content validity. If you cannot get that clause, you do not have a safe joint providership. You have a hope.
What to have open
The two legal names, as they should appear on learner materials. Who is accredited (ACCME, state society, or Joint Accreditation). What each side will actually produce: needs, faculty, LMS, marketing, evals, outcomes. Any draft contract points you already have. A previous jointly provided announcement you were happy with, for voice.
Do not paste an ineligible company’s brand plan. If the only “joint provider” in the room is a company that makes products used on patients, stop. That is not this recipe.
The prompt
I am writing a joint-providership planning memo. I am the author of record. This is not a legal partnership. Do not call the organizations partners. ACCREDITED PROVIDER (legal name, accreditor): [paste] NONACCREDITED JOINT PROVIDER (legal name): [paste] WHAT EACH SIDE WILL ACTUALLY PRODUCE: [paste: needs, faculty, platform, marketing, evals, refunds] POINTS ALREADY AGREED IN THE CONTRACT DRAFT: [paste, including whether last-minute revocation without penalty is in. If it is not, say so.] HOUSE VOICE: [paste a previous memo or announcement, or "none"] Draft four things. 1. SPLIT TABLE. Restate who owns the file, content validity, Standard 3, operations and refunds, promotion review, credit language, and ACCME complaints. Use my facts. If I did not say who does a job, write [NEEDS: owner]. 2. PLANNING EMAIL TO THE JOINT PROVIDER. Under 160 words. Name the accredited provider as owner of compliance. Ask only for the pieces I listed as theirs. Do not invent a timeline I did not give. 3. LEARNER-FACING NOTE. One short paragraph that a flyer can sit next to, stating that the activity is jointly provided and that the official accreditation statement will be copied from ACCME, not drafted here. Write [NEEDS: official accreditation statement from accme.org/rule/joint-providership/] instead of composing that statement. 4. RISK LIST. Content validity, last-minute revocation, promotional pages, gift cards or remuneration tied to purchase, refunds, and (if I said the accredited provider is on Probation) a stop. No legal advice. Flag anything I have not covered as [NEEDS:]. Do not invent a credit designation statement. Do not invent AMA, ANCC, or board recognition language.
What good output looks like
The table has names, not “the team.” The email sounds like your office. The learner-facing note refuses to write the accreditation statement. The risk list mentions revocation and promotion review in ordinary words.
How to check it
Owner pass. Every compliance sentence names the accredited provider.
Statement pass. Search the draft for “This activity has been planned.” If that sentence is not a paste from accme.org with your two names filled in, delete it.
Ineligible pass. If either organization markets healthcare products used on patients, this memo is the wrong document.
Probation pass. If the accredited provider is on Probation, the draft must not propose a new joint providership.
Promotion pass. No gift cards, raffles, or “free CME with purchase.” ACCME prohibits gift cards or personal remuneration associated with the purchase of accredited CME.
Where it goes wrong
It says partnership. ACCME went out of its way not to. Use joint providership, accredited provider, joint provider.
It lets the society own the file. A specialty society can draft. The hospital that is accredited still signs, refunds, and answers ACCME.
It writes the statement from memory. Models have seen thousands of accreditation sentences. Close is not close enough. Open the rule.
It treats the contract as optional. Content validity is the failure mode ACCME has already named. Revocation without penalty is how you survive a slide deck that arrives on Monday.
Joint-providership walk-through · bettermethod.ai/recipes/joint-providership/ · Last reviewed August 2026
These tools change often. Check the review date before you rely on anything
product-specific in here, and check the guidance against your own accreditor and
organization policies.